Terry Jones writes for Issues and Insights about damaging polling information for the fourth estate.
Can the U.S. media ever reverse their reputation for dishonesty and bias and end their current tailspin? Given how the public currently views them, the answer is “not likely,” the latest I&I/TIPP Poll suggests.
Each month I&I/TIPP Poll asks registered voters from around the country to gauge their trust in the major media that supply them with news, features and other information.
Specifically, two questions were asked:
“Generally speaking, how much trust do you have in thetraditional or established news media (Example: Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, CBS News, etc.) to report the news accurately and fairly?”
And, “Generally speaking, how much trust do you have in the alternative news media (Example: New York Post, Washington Times, NewsMax, The Daily Caller, RealClearPolitics, etc.) to report the news accurately and fairly?”
Responses to the first question make up the “Traditional Media Trust Index,” while answers to the second are included in the “Alternate Media Trust Index”; 1,419 Americans responded to the national online poll, which was taken from Feb. 28-March 1. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points.
How well are the media doing their job of informing Americans? Not very, voters overwhelmingly say. In fact, only one-third (34%) trust traditional media, and six in ten (61%) don’t. A third (32%) say they have “little trust,” and another 29% have “no trust at all.”
The Traditional Media Index fell in March and now stands only slightly above its all-time lows in October.
The Traditional Media Index fell 4.8%, from 39.9 to 38. This index includes such big media outlets as The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and CBS News. The March reading is above October’s record low of 35.8, but well below the all-time average of 41.3 and the all-time high of 51.
Looking at how various demographic and political groups view the media, a somewhat different picture emerges, with Democrats and minorities somewhat higher in trust, while Republicans and whites are much lower.